


The aftermath

by Grigoriweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Battle of Hogwarts, Canonical Character Death, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23413495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grigoriweasley/pseuds/Grigoriweasley
Summary: Ron's thoughts after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Relationships: Ron Weasley & Weasley Family
Kudos: 8





	The aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. No money is being made from this story.  
> I'm re-reading the whole saga and this is just what came into my mind.  
> It's written using Ron's POV, hope you like it!

It happened. He was gone.  
Moments before we were certain that Harry was dead, lying motionless in Hagrid’s arms as the Death Eaters were pulling him into the castle by some ropes; and two seconds after my best friend was standing right in front of Voldemort, pointing his wand at him and fighting the last, and the biggest, battle of all. It had only lasted a few seconds, but to me it felt like a lifetime; next thing I knew Voldemort was lying on the ground, finally defeated. Everyone was frozen; no one dared to move, afraid that if they did they’d wake up from that dream they seemed to be in. A dream where finally He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named didn’t exist anymore. 

And then, Harry took a deep breath looking at me, Hermione and everbody behind us, and declared: “We won”. But his face was not one of a winner…He had been tortured and hurt during the fight and he had also lost Remus and Tonks, the only bits of family he had left. All of us started moving slowly, not really conscious of what had just happened; me and Hermione headed towards Harry and hugged him as tight as we could, trying to get the image of him dead out of our minds. 

Then we went into the Great Hall, where there lay all the people who had been wounded during the Battle, who were receiving medication from Madame Pomfrey (even though she was quite wounded herself); in a small corner, covered with white sheets, lay the ones that we’d lost. As soon as I saw the bodies, it hit me. Fred, my brother, was one of them. Suddenly I felt like throwing up; I wasn’t feelings my legs anymore and my head started spinning uncontrollably, my eyes started to close…I felt someone shaking my arm and heard a worried voice shouting “Ron! Ron! Ron!” I recognized it was Hermione calling me and I tried with all my will to come back to reality. When our eyes met, hers were filled with worry. “What’s wrong, Ron? You were about to faint, you really scared me” she murmured on the verge of tears. I wanted to tell her how I was feeling, but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.  
I began to walk, leaving her there without an answer, and I approached my parents and the rest of my brothers. It was weird- those people didn’t look like my family at all. Dad was awfully quiet, his arm gently stroking Mum’s back; she was sobbing loudly and her fists were tugging his shirt. Next to them, on a bench, my brothers were sitting: all curled up together, one big ball of red hair, trembling and shivering hard even though the sun was coming up and the cold of the night had died away. I kneeled in front of them, starting to tremble myself, and a violent sob escaped my mouth; the sound made them all jump in their seats and look up in terror, as if they believed a bomb had been thrown at them.

I looked at all their faces, and I knew they reflected mine. Ginny, my little Ginny, was very pale; but she was sobbing silently, without making any noises, trying to be strong and support the rest of the family. I looked at Percy, who had come back home just some days before after two years of not talking to us because of his working for the Ministry; his face, always serious and professional, was now transfigured with hordes of pain and regret. But George’s face was the most difficult to look at: he looked completely empty, as though with Fred’s death life had been sucked out of him too. Since the day I was born, I’ve never seen one without the other; whether it was taking the piss out of Percy or planning new ways to create mayhem at school, they were never separated. It’s really hard for me to think that it won’t be like that anymore...To think that now there’s always gonna be a vacant seat on our table, that I won’t wake up anymore with the pair of them shouting in my ears, that he won’t get to grow old with us…I just can’t fathom that. 

All the joy that I felt for the victory has now vanished and I feel like I’ve never been happy in my life before: the only emotion I can envision now is this graveness, this emptiness that fills my heart and renders everything around me cold and useless. So I curl in closer to them and put my hands in theirs, closing my eyes and letting myself drown in grief.


End file.
